The Ohio wrongful death lawsuit was filed by the family of Eva Walker in Licking County Common Pleas Court, against Licking Memorial Hospital and Dr. Randy E. Jones, according to a report in the Newark Advocate.

The family alleges that Walker was taken to the hospital on April 13, 2009 with symptoms of cardiac arrest, but she was sent home without being admitted to the hospital on April 14, and she died the same day from cardiac arrest and chronic heart failure.

Cardiac arrest occurs when the heart stops pumping, causing blood pressure to fall dramatically. If untreated, cardiac arrest always leads to death. Most cases of cardiac arrest are determined by a lack of pulse or other signs that circulation has stopped. However, checking for a pulse frequently leads to misdiagnosis, even by healthcare professionals.

In 2000, the International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) recommended that medical personnel look for signs of circulation, but not specifically limit such checks to the pulse.

According to Resuscitation Council UK, the chances of survival for a person suffering from cardiac arrest decrease by 10% every minute the condition is not diagnosed.

The New York wrongful death lawsuit was filed by Roger Fudge, Jr. in Queens Supreme Court last month against Long Island Jewish/Plainview Hospital and three doctors over the death of his wife, Melissa, in November 2008. The complaint alleges that doctors failed to properly diagnose Melissa Fudge’s brain hemorrhage, leading to her death.

Melissa Fudge was admitted to the hospital after complaining of vomiting and gastrointestinal pain, as well as a painful headache and pain in her left eye. According to the complaint, Fudge had a history of ulcerative colitis, and her husband claims the doctors assumed that was the problem and could not understand why the blood transfusions they were giving her were not working.

A brain hemorrhage is a type of stroke that occurs when there is bleeding in or around the brain, resulting in the death of brain cells. Symptoms include sudden headaches, nausea, vomiting, seizures, numbness, weakness, confusion and loss of consciousness. The bleeding can occur in and around the brain or between the skull and the covering of the brain.

Usually, a computed tomography (CT) scan will confirm a brain hemorrhage. It can also be detected by a spinal tap or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan. If a brain hemorrhage is diagnosed properly, it can often be treated by radiology or microsurgical procedures.

The Pennsylvania malpractice lawsuit was filed by Vita Monestersky against Uniontown Hospital in the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Pennsylvania.

The complaint alleged that the hospital staff was negligent for failing to give Monestersky’s doctor the results of a blood test that revealed an alarming increase in her white blood cell count after she gave birth. It was later discovered that she had a Strep A infection and required a complete abdominal hysterectomy to save her life.

Monestersky’s gynecologist ordered the blood test from the Uniontown Hospital after she gave birth. The laboratory found a sudden and dramatic increase in white blood cells, but never reported those results to her physician.

The hospital malpractice lawsuit claimed that there was a lack of policies and procedures in place to ensure that the doctor received the white blood cell count information.

Monestersky was only 18 at the time of the hysterectomy in November 2004.

The jury awarded the plaintiff $2.3 million in damages and rejected defense arguments that the elevated white blood count was common after childbirth and was not a significant sign of infection. Her physician testified that if he had been given the test results, he would have been able to treat the infection before it required that she undergo a hysterectomy.

The Illinois medical malpractice lawsuit was filed on October 27 in St. Clair County Circuit Court by Tracy Hunziker, according to a report in The Madison Record. The complaint alleges that Dr. Christopher Russell, Dr. Michael Scott and Dr. Evan Belfer all failed to properly interpret the results of a brain scan, missing indications that Hunziker suffered a stroke.

Hunziker was admitted to the emergency room of St. Joseph Memorial Hospital in Carbondale, Ill. on October 28, 2007, suffering symptoms that included dizziness, headache, numbness and an inability to speak. As a result of the doctors’ failure to diagnose the stroke, Hunzinker alleges that she suffered permanent injuries.

A 2004 study by researchers from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons found that as much as 12% of patients who suffered a stroke were initially misdiagnosed by doctors. The proper interpretation of CT scans were found to be crucial in correct diagnosis of a stroke, and the most common reason for an incorrect stroke diagnosis was the failure to perform a CT scan on the patient. Researchers found that 73% of the misdiagnosed strokes occurred when no CT scan was performed.

Earlier this year, a study by researchers at Wayne State University found that the rate of stroke misdiagnosis increased when it came younger people under the age of 50. Misdiagnosis occurred in 14 percent of younger stroke victims, whose strokes were often thought to be vertigo, migraines or alcohol intoxication.

Failure to diagnose a stroke can delay treatment, potentially resulting in another more severe stroke, brain injury or other permanent disability for survivors.

The misdiagnosis lawsuit was filed by the family of Andrew Morrow, who died on January 31, 2008 from a blood infection caused by a gangrenous appendicitis. According to a report by the Duluth News Tribune, a St. Louis County jury determined last Monday that Morrow’s pediatrician, Dr. Kevin G. Krause was negligent for failing to diagnose the boy’s condition, which could have saved his life.

Krause was accused of misdiagnosing Morrow twice in four days. At first, the child was diagnosed with influenza after a phone conversation, and later incorrectly diagnosed with gastroenteritis. The lawsuit alleged that Krause discouraged the parents from bringing the boy to see him, did not have an ultrasound or CT scan done to determine the source of the child’s abdominal pain, and told the parents that his appendix was fine.

During the trial, the family presented evidence revealing that Krause, a pediatrics specialist at the Mesaba Clinic in Hibbing, Minnesota, was seeing up to 45 children per day and was scheduling appointments for them in 10-minute increments.

The lawsuit alleges that Krause was an hour behind on his schedule when he saw Morrow and gave the wrong diagnosis in an examination that lasted less than 10 minutes.

The Florida malpractice lawsuit was brought by the parents of Haylee Kroll, against four doctors at Coral Springs Medical Center, alleging that the doctors misdiagnosed signs of a liver virus as normal bruising resulting from birth. The virus left Kroll, born in 1994, with permanent vision problems, learning disabilities and cirrhosis of the liver.

The Broward Circuit Court jury found two of the doctors named in the misdiagnosis lawsuit, Sedigheh Zolfaghari and Jose Colindres, to be liable for Kroll’s injuries. Two others, Greg Melnick and Manuel Ortega, were found to be not liable.

According to a report in the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the parents alleged that they noticed large bruises on Haylee’s body when she was first born. The doctors told them that they were of no concern and would fade. However, the infant then showed signs of jaundice, liver scarring and a blood clot in the brain, and doctors told the parents that the child may have a fatal condition.

The lawsuit claimed that the newborn was showing recognizable signs of enterovirus, a mild illness that is more dangerous to infants and newborns due to their lack of a developed immune system. The doctors did not take blood or liver tests which would have revealed the virus’ presence.

The lawsuit took 13 years to come to conclusion due to scheduling delays and a mistrial declared in 2007. Kroll is now in the 10th grade.

The medical malpractice lawsuit was filed by the family of Gustavo Espinel-Santos, who alleged that Dr. Peri Aldrich and the Berlin Family Medical Center failed to run basic diagnostic tests that would have led to a proper diagnosed and saved his life.

After two visits to the Berlin Family Medical Center in December 2003, where physician assistants told him he had pneumonia, Espinel-Santos was admitted to St. Vincent Hospital on December 23, 2003, where he was diagnosed as having a fungal infection known as blastomycosis. However the infection diagnosis came too late for Espinel-Santos to receive proper treatment and he died.

Following a four-day trial, the jury awarded $3.7 million to Espinel-Santos’s wife, Marie Zavala McDaniel, and his two young children. According to the Green Bay Press Gazette, the award will be reduced in accordance with a state law that places a $350,000 cap on non-economic damages in Wisconsin malpractice lawsuits.

Prompt infection diagnosis and treatment is important, as infectious bacteria can create toxins that damage nearby cells. Untreated, bacterial infections can spread throughout the body through the bloodstream, a condition called bactermia.

Blastomycosis is caused by fungal bacteria known as Blastomyces dermatidis, and is often transmitted through water and soil. Mortality rates for the infection are about 42% for untreated cases, but death is extremely rare in cases where a correct diagnosis and proper treatment occur.

The hospital malpractice lawsuit was brought on behalf of Paris Campen, who is now five years old, in the Superior Court of California in Los Angles against Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. The complaint alleged that that hospital neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) negligently failed to diagnose and treat a case of meningitis when the child was just over a month old.

As a result of the bacterial infection misdiagnosis, Campen developed meningitis. She suffered permanent brain damage when the doctors waited eight hours to treat her with antibiotics after she began showing symptoms. According to the Los Angeles Times, Campen now requires physical and behavioral therapy, and has a shunt implanted to drain excess fluids from her brain.

Bacterial meningitis is a serious, but treatable illness caused by bacterial infection. It results in an inflammation of the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), determining if someone suffers from bacterial meningitis early is crucial for treatment to avoid brain damage, hearing loss, or learning disabilities. It is treatable with antibiotics, but can cause permanent damage or death if it the infection is not diagnosed.

The case was filed by the family of Melissa Hendricks in Denton County, Texas. Hendricks died on December 14, 2004 of cancer that went undiagnosed for nearly a year and a half, despite repeated medical visits and concerns expressed to her health care providers.

The verdict, which was returned in a case filed against Dr. Stephen Glaser, physician assistant Jason Maris and Highland Family Medical Center, is reportedly one of the largest in the county since Texas tort reform was enacted in 2003. According to the Denton Record-Chronicle, verdict will be reduced to $1.5 million under a Texas medical malpractice law that limits the amount of damages that can be awarded for non-economic damages.

In the misdiagnosed cancer lawsuit, Hendricks family alleged that she first noticed a small lump on the top of her head in mid-2002 and visited the medical center and Dr. Glaser in October of that year. She expressed concerns about the lump because her mother had died of cancer, and Glaser misdiagnosed the bump as a sebaceous cyst, which is a nonmalignant lesion.

A week later, the cyst was removed by Maris, who worked for Glaser. However, the cyst was discarded and no testing was performed to confirm the original diagnosis.

Approximately one year later, the lump returned and Hendricks went to another doctor, who did not remove the lump because she was pregnant. It subsequently grew in size and was confirmed as sarcoma, a form of cancer. Despite an 11th hour fight against the cancer, Hendricks died less than a year after the correct diagnosis.

Early cancer diagnosis is important in nearly all forms of the disease, as treatment options may not be available or as likely to succeed if time elapses because of a cancer misdiagnosis. Patients diagnosed with sarcoma in its early stages who receive proper treatment have a much better prognosis, with the possibility of a full cure if all of the cancerous cells can be completely removed from the body. In later stages, the cancer spreads to the lymph nodes and beyond, making it more difficult to treat.

The jury determined that Glaser and Maris were each 45% responsible in the wrongful death misdiagnosis lawsuit. The other 10% of the responsibility was attributed to Hendricks’, for waiting to have the lump examined given her family’s cancer history.

The colonoscopy malpractice lawsuit was filed by Michael Salopek, who went to Dr. David Friedman in February 2005 to treat a punctured colon that occurred during a colonoscopy. Dr. Friedman failed to locate the hole in Salopek’s colon and assumed that the perforation had healed itself.

As a result of the lack of treatment, Salopek’s fecal matter leaked into his body for 11 days and caused a serious infection. Salopek required 13 operations to repair the damage and remove part of his colon, according to a report in the Las Cruces Sun-News.

Colonoscopy perforation is a common risk associated with the diagnostic procedures, which are designed to look for precancerous abnormalities in the colon. A study published in the February 5, 2003 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute found that 1.96 out of every 1,000 patients who undergo a colonoscopy suffer a perforated colon.

That study looked at nearly 40,000 procedures that occurred between 1991 and 1998, and the authors noted that the risk of colonoscopy perforations was decreasing as technology and training of medical professionals improved.

The occurrence of a colonoscopy perforation by itself is usually not enough to establish a medical malpractice claim, as it is a generally accepted risk of the procedure. However, a doctor’s failure to promptly recognize and treat a perforated colon from a colonoscopy can give rise to liability for damages that occur as a result of any delay in treatment.